Project Summary

Making Health Our Own is an ongoing citizen-driven process for establishing health priorities and implementing action plans that will provide guidance to achieve a healthy community. This planning process assures that all citizens will have the opportunity to mold a community vision for health.

About me

I have a BA in International Relations, graduating Summa cum laude and an MA in Intercultural Communication.I have spent 15 years working as an evaluator with current memberships in the American Evaluation Association, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Program Evaluators Northwest, and the Washington State Public Health Association. I have experience in the areas of community assessment, evaluation, grant writing, intercultural communication, and group facilitation. This project plans to draw extensively on staff resources from community groups, particularly the grassroots leadership resources developed by the Whatcom Coalition for Healthy Communities. I have a passion for public health because it is the province of systems level, community level change. The medical system, including both traditional and non-traditional methods, is important in serving individual-level decision making and health intervention. However, public health is the perfect venue for communities to come together to support health opportunities for all. Also involved in these processes will be many key stakeholder organizations. However, expertise will not just come from formal organizations. Expertise will come from the homeless, the disenfranchised, the mentally ill, the recovery community, senior citizens, our schools, parents, and youth. It will come from migrant laborers and CEOs. Our intention is to be as universal and inclusive as possible in order to produce the best community outcomes.